"Rogue" has way more negative meanings in the dictionary, but "maverick" is the word long applied to John McCain, and for Palin, it can't signify her independence properly. Both words are applied to animals, and here the difference is good for Palin. The maverick animal is unbranded or motherless — unowned. This is a fate that falls upon the poor creature. The "rogue" is specifically a horse that resists being controlled by others. It is exhibiting its own will, and not the victim of happenstance. Now, fate touched Palin when McCain choose her, and she did get into trouble when she exhibited will, and the maverick's people called her "rogue":

The idea of misbehaving works particularly well for a woman, especially a woman setting herself apart from the men. If we speak of a man misbehaving — being a rogue — we think of him straying sexually. But a misbehaving women — in my book — sounds like a great feminist: someone who thumbs her nose at the patriarchy.

Sarah's a traditionalist, an unapologetic traditionalist. That's what makes her enemy #1 to the Left. If a leftist organ called her rogue I could understand it. But that she calls herself rogue can only mean that she buys into the lefty meme that left is center. Sad.

I'm glad you put up the Amazon link as an unabashed tipping mechanism.

Please do that more.

rhhardin, I think one of them is going to have to eat their truck, because Palin is going to be the nominee. Enough people can stomach Palin being the nominee, and a lot of her supporters can't stomach any of the other front runners. She's a big middle finger directed at the GOP's beltwar leadership, and it's almost irrelevant to some of her supporters that she's got so much baggage.

I think Obama's a lesson we aren't learning. Being president is not for everyone who looks appealing on TV.

"Going Rogue" also brings Teddy Roosevelt to mind. Although a patrician, Teddy Roosevelt cultivated his "Rough Rider," populist, reputation. Palin has no patrician baggage to shed, and she can spin herself as a spirited, mischevious filly to stir her populist base.

In Teddy Roosevelt, we had a patrician who served the general good of a populist nation. What we have now is a patrician who snears at populism.

"If a leftist organ called her rogue I could understand it. But that she calls herself rogue can only mean that she buys into the lefty meme that left is center. Sad."

Only mean that? OR more likely it was referring to the Republican handlers that said she had gone rogue in not following what they wanted her to do, say, act. I seriously doubt she gave any thought to what the lefty's think is center.

The idea of misbehaving works particularly well for a woman, especially a woman setting herself apart from the men.

Indeed. “Well behaved women rarely make history” and all that. I think the title is kind of cheesy, but mostly because I don’t like the “going” part of it. I think Rogue fits and also makes her sound kind of cool, like an action hero (yes, I've seen xmen).

In pop culture, though, I think "rogue" has taken on a more positive connotation. Think, for example, of some of the roles by Matt Damon, Denzel Washington and Harrison Ford, where they play a 'rogue' agent (often of the CIA). By bucking the Establishment, refusing to be 'get along, go along' types, they stand up for Truth and Justice.

The games afoot, Watson. The recent connections of McCain with the Romney campaign are one thing, but watching the NYT and the MSNBC attack dogs temporarily build up Romney's image is going to be some amazing political theater.Will Romney become Time's Man of the Year? Stay tuned.

Which adds even more to the idea that Palin is capitalizing on her Western conservative mentality, something that she probably inherently is more than McCain. Maverick implies someone making a unique path within the establishment--has that Top Gun or western gambler allusion.

Rogue means going their own way, outside the system, opposed to the system when it is opposed to them. It's misbehaving, but only according to the standards of some establishment. If the establishment is corrupt, then the misbehaving is applauded.

As Glenn Reynolds repeated apt quote suggests, even misbehaving doesn't necessarily mean sexual misbehavior for men nor does it have general negative connotations for a lot of people.

"I aim to misbehave" is the classic Captain Mal line from Firefly--that utterly superb show/movie of Western independence.

"Rogue" must be losing most of its negative connotations, marketing-wise. My son's new PDA/cellphone model is called a "Rogue" - that tells me the better synonym for "rogue" is "rebel" (consistent with Richard's post of the pop culture connotation).

Huh? That's a fun post, but she's just playing on the well-known remark from an anonymous (?) McCain staffer during the campaign, which Tina Fey quickly used as an hilarious joke on SNL. Always fun to be meta-critical tho'. Loved that you knew Rogue from the X-Men. You're so...smart.

Rogue has a Romance Novel quality to it...Is there a bodice ripper cover on it? The Palin personality has a strong character component that is willing to fight for the right against a system that has the USA designated for the Trash Heap of History as the leader of the capitalist gangsters. We don't need a paid off Fake-President to get us a plea deal that half surrenders to that, we need a rogue point guard that intends to lead us to victory after victory.

Narrator: As the 21st century began, human evolution was at a turning point. Natural selection, the process by which the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, reproduced in greater numbers than the rest, a process which had once favored the noblest traits of man, now began to favor different traits. Most science fiction of the day predicted a future that was more civilized and more intelligent. But as time went on, things seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. A dumbing down. How did this happen? Evolution does not necessarily reward intelligence. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most, and left the intelligent to become an endangered species.

President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho: Shit. I know shit's bad right now, with all that starving bullshit, and the dust storms, and we are running out of french fries and burrito coverings. But I got a solution.South Carolina Representative # 1: That's what you said last time, dipshit!South Carolina Representative # 2: Yeah, I got a solution, you're a dick! South Carolina, what's up!

In my mind, "rogue" is most similar to a pirate character. Outside law and rules and decidedly self-serving. The kind of figure who enjoys populist support only at a distance, but eventually is brought to justice.

I think it perfect for a large portion of the American political temperature today, but ultimately she needs to become part of the system. If that happened, she would be a tough candidate. It won't. She will be neither rogue enough, nor insider enough to satisfy enough.

"Rogue" is an appealing word. We say "You rogue, you," and "lovable rogue." There's a Rogue River out west, and the word has a nice rugged Western wildness to it. Particularly appealing for a woman, I agree.

After four years of America hating Marxists trying to shank the country Sarah Palin will be the perfect antidote with her understanding of the values that made this country great and the need to to wrench power out of the dead hand of the State and give it back to the individual.

She's way smarter than people give her credit for but more than that she has integrity and spine in spades.

Some here believe the media spin and think she cannot win the nomination let alone the presidency. I think she'll win both handily.

Idiocracy is a look at a dystopian future brought about by the complete failure of the educational system, and the complete reliance of ordinary citizens on mass media and a social safety net that allows them to live without effort (albeit in squalor).

I applaud Garage for bringing this warning to light, since it's the perfect cautionary tale of what happens when we let things go too far down the Obama/Biden path.

As Fred4Pres said... "Going Rogue" is a mild perjoritive, but in her case it was breaking out of the trap Steve Schmidt and others of the McCain brain trust put her in. So it is a good description and an okay title.

So she was selected to help elect John McCain President, then quit on him and what his team asked her to do.

Then quit her Gov of Alaska job....

I have no doubt the adoring fans of her Cult of Personality will buy her book, make her rich, and support Their Goddess for President.Buoyed by her assurance that "Yah betcha that running for President is too important a job to quit on my supporters, and go rogue again.."

Meanwhile, hopefully, people like Romney, Jindal, Gingrich, Collins, Jeb Bush, Pawlenty will be looking at how to renew Republicans as a Party of good alternatives rather than just a Party "against what Pelosi and Obama want".

They have a big task. Reaganomics failed over the long haul, Globalism and Free Trade with dirt cheap labor taking American jobs has hurt us. Deregulating Wall Street so Freedom Lovers!! could run America and grow the economy without gummint being in the way was a complete disaster. As was the neocon dream of unilimited wars America was obligated to be sucked into, to help "grateful Freedom Lovers!!!" The financial recklessness of Bush and the Congressional Republicans..the best they can say is they only sinned less than Pelosi, Waxman, Geithner, Obama did in our financial destruction.

And the rest of the country rejecting the values of the Religious Right, outside the Deep South. How to manage to elect any candidate not veto'd by the Fundies...

Yep, a big task...and I don't see Palin as a part of it, othr than perhaps showing up to run..

The image of the loveable rogue became very popular in the late 18th Century. The 18th Century was the era of the orignal metrosexual. Elite men wore wigs and high fashion. The public grew tired of this effeminate image. Thus, crooks and theives and men of action became folk hereos. Gradually the elite image of a hero and of ideal manhood began to shift. The public found new more masculine hereos in men like Lord Nelson and Andrew Jackson as the 18th turned to the 19th Century.

In this age of "smart diplomacy" and someone getting elected President because they were alledgedly "errudite", I think the public is quite ready for a shift towards the more masculine. In that sense, the title is quite apt, although I am sure not meant that way

"Going rogue" is a colloquial expression describing an employee or agent throwing off the shackles of organizational rules and operating under self-direction. Redford's character in Three Days of the Condor is forced into "going rogue" when his agency decides it must kill him and the rest of his unit to keep them quiet about a secret illegal operation.

The phrase is apt for Sarah Palin, who was badly used by the McCain campaign after the convention. They gave her restrictions and rules that made her less than ineffective, and she's not going to put up with that treatment anymore.

The Dem's new slogan: "You can put rogue on a Palin, but it's still a Palin" , or was that rouge? Seriously, Sarah can win if the Republicans want to win in 2012. Then we'll find out whether she will apply the Bush doctrine to Chavez and friends on the southern border that EL Obamas has been investing his resources into so heavily of late.

Ok. I'll bite on Palin's experience serving on the Oil and Gas Commission. Yes, she quit because she was frustrated at the corruption she saw within the committee (some details here) and wanted to expose it. She couldn't legally do so while on the committee, so she quit.

I applaud her for that. It's hard to find ethical people in politics. But being a whistleblower does not make up for the lack time spent doing a job. Because she was there for less than a year, there is not much of a record of accomplishments to attribute to her during her tenure. Same for her stint as Governor. The only government job she held for a long time is mayor of Wasilla, and she left with middling reviews. Other than that,

She may very well be much sharper than she comes off (I assume you don't get appointed to chair the Oil and Gas Commission if you're a complete dolt) but her tendency to quit in the middle of things will not help her case with the undecideds if she runs for President.

How are you going to feel comfortible electing someone to the highest office of the land, who is on the record expressing this attitude:

Palin said it was hard to do her job with potential civil penalties hanging over her head if she talked about what went on at her agency. She said the experience was taking the "oomph" out of her passion for government service and she decided to quit rather than becoming bitter.

Does anyone not think that there is X to the n'th more corruption in Washington than in Alaska that she, as President, will not be able to talk about?

If she wins, I just hope the VP candidate is one hell of a qualified individual, and not a Quayle or a Biden.

I don't expect Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, or Mitt Romney to be the 2012 nominee. Whoever that person is, he or she is keeping a low profile right now -- and from a tactical perspective that's exactly right.

Palin is perceived by the left as being the front runner (and Glenn Reynolds' polls support that perception), but the main thing she's doing is being a lightning rod. And the more frothing at the mouth the left wing is at the very mention of her name (are you listening Jeremy?) the more they discredit themselves in the eyes of voters. And winning voters over is where the game is at.

Jeremy...Sarah Palin is happy to hear about your support for her GOP nomination. All contributions you would like to make will be doubled by her supporters like me. And by sending them thru me, you won't get on the GOP mailing lists which send stuff out faster than Macy's sale pamphlets.

"'You can help support this blog if you use this link to buy "Going Rogue.'"

How is this ludicrous? Althouse knows that there are many among her readers who are going to buy the book anyway. What's wrong with her noting, even promoting, that already settled, determined purpose in a manner which supports this blog, which those already determined buyers consume regularly, mostly for free?

Also--and perhaps I'm reading too much into what you wrote, Ethan, in seeing the shadow of an assumption--it is quite possible that Palin's book will be purchased and read even by people who are skeptical of her, or who don't support her but don't hate her, or even who do hate her.If those folks are going to buy and read the book anyway, and they are regular consumers of Althouse's output, why not buy it through the link?

traditionalguy - I realize you're in need of an income, but I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere.

I also love the bizarre slant the wing nuts here put on the liberals love of following and trashing every insane move the Princess makes. (A spectacular, 400 page memoir of a political career encompassing 3 terms as mayor of Wasilla, AL (WOW!)...and written in all of 4 four months? Now, THAT should tell you something.)

She represents everything the left or any thinking person in America sees as the best possible GOP candidate to guarantee 8 years of President Obama and a Democratic majority in Congress.

Most voters who actually understand politics, and who saw what happened in the recent election would be looking elsewhere, but here and with the vast majority of wing nuts, teabaggers, etc...you appear to think Princess Sarah actually helped John McCain.

She was and will be a disaster...and the liberals and independents love every minute of it.

"The big lecture buyers in the US are paralyzed with fear about booking her, basically because they think she is a blithering idiot," the source said. "They don't want to tick people off."

I will be interested if this turns out to be true, or complete nonsense. I have my suspicions, but will be happy to see the numbers when they are in (just out of curiosity, who are the "industry insiders" of the lecture circuit? Is there only one lecture circuit? And it exists in NY?).

My two cents about the "Going Rogue" title: I don't particularly like it; I think it sends mixed messages; I'd have advised against it. But, big deal and who cares what I think? It wasn't chosen with me in mind and, truth be told, I don't care about *that.*

Shanna: I think the price tag possibly might be another bit of an issue, and I'm wondering--just a bit, don't hit me too hard--if there's a bit of concern stemming from a bit of a track record on Palin's part of backing away from or canceling or whatever-ing from previously booked speaking/appearance engagements. I think that's a fair concern, however faint, and I think even diehard Palin supporters ought to be able to understand that, even if they disagree.

All talk radio shows are preaching to the choir. Few people pay 30 bucks to read something they disagree with.

There are a few TRS's out there that foster discussion, Medved comes to mind, but they are a precious few.

For anyone interested, I would recomend listening to Dan Carlin's "Common Sense" podcast. You may or may not agree with him, but he's a smart knowledgeable guy, is a history buff, and will make you think.

Shanna: I think the price tag possibly might be another bit of an issue, and I'm wondering--just a bit, don't hit me too hard--if there's a bit of concern stemming from a bit of a track record on Palin's part of backing away from or canceling or whatever-ing from previously booked speaking/appearance engagements.

Perhaps, reader. As I said, I will be curious to see the numbers, if she really gets on a speaking tour. Considering the fascination people still have with her, I imagine she might draw a lot of people.

And it may have come off as snark, but I really am curious how the whole lecture circuit background works. It seems like it might be rather spread out, so I’m wondering if the “industry insiders” would have information nationwide trends or local ones. But, although I don’t hate Palin, I’m not one of her diehards either, so it’s not skin off my nose.

Perhaps this book is about her "Going Rogue" and the *next* book will be something more serious but still feisty.

"Also, in Tina Fey's Sarah-Palin-going-rogue joke, Palin was going rogue in order to raise money for 2012! So is this book! Ha!"

Oh, that one! I thought that was really funny.

Even funnier was the intro of "Idiocracy" where the "smart" people refused to breed... but possibly not in the way the film makers intended.

Someone I know (who usually reminds me very much of C4, actually) wrote this about Sarah Palin.

"The people who argue that Sarah Palin is a prole, therefore stupid, also argue she is a prole, therefore stupid, nasty, hateful, vile disgusting and repugnant – which is why prolishness is a vote winner: her enemies will expose the fact that they hate a very large proportion of the voters."

I notice that on Intrade, among those betting on the identity of the 2012 GOP nominee, over the past 4 months Palin has steadily risen from 6th place to 2nd place, now virtually tied with Romney. Her shares have quadrupled in value, rising from a low of $6 immediately following her resignation, to $20 today (Romney is at $24).

All political books are preaching to the choir. Few people pay 30 bucks to read something they disagree with.

Maybe so, but I'll bet a lot of folks will pony up at half that price (which is the Amazon price right now), especially if the purchase allows them to (a) troll for passages in which Cuda sounds like an idiot and/or (b) support Professor Althouse's blog. I mean, this is currently the #2 best selling book on all of Amazon; those buyers can't all be illiterate wingnuts, can they?

I don't think that "Going Rogue" has the connotations of being out of control. But certainly there is a strong association with going against whatever particular authority is supposedly in charge of you.

The "well behaved women" quote is extremely well known, particularly among feminists. Funny, really, that Palin seems to catch so much hostility from that quarter for not knowing her place.

I disagree with Instapundit about "I aim to misbehave." I LOVE that quote. It was entirely appropriate for the movie, and fittingly understated for the character. It might have some of the right feel but I think it's more forward looking and declarative than what would probably work best for what seems to be her political autobiography.

"Going rogue" is like Marlon Brando's character in Apocalypse Now. Our lady of Palin will have to go rogue to become the first Woman President, and do that as a rogue because many women are jealous of her personal popularity with the men. That's a Rogue twofer.

I've only seen the beginning of the movie. It was the montage illustrating why dumb people overtook the earth. It followed a couple with very high IQ's (I believe it included the IQ next to their names) and a dumb Redneck (with his IQ as well.) This is from very faulty memory, understand.

The "smart" couple are explaining that they want children and are planning this out.

The "dumb" guy knocks up his girl friend in high school.

Time passes... the "smart" couple explain why they have to wait for children. The "dumb" guy married his girl-friend and now they have three kids in all.

Time passes... the "smart" couple explain why now is not a good time to have kids. The "dumb" guy has monster children in middle school and knocks-up the neighbor.

Time passes... there has been a set back and the "smart" couple has to wait longer. The "dumb" guy's oldest is in high school and reproduces, branching the ever expanding family tree graphic on the screen.

Time passes... it's now convenient for the "smart" couple to have a family but they are having trouble conceiving. The "dumb" guy now has seven direct off-spring and a couple of grandkids. The graphics pop onto the family tree.

Time passes... the "smart" couple is trying fertility treatment. Their "family tree" still contains only two. The "dumb" family tree is up to a couple dozen and more pop on.

Time passes... the "smart" husband has died from an aneurysm while using pornography to produce a sperm sample. Half of the "smart" family tree pops out of existence. The "smart" widow explains that she'd like kids and hopes to some day meet the perfect man to start a family. The "dumb" family tree overflows the screen.

... I know I'm not getting the details right because I only saw it once but that's the gist.

I found it hysterical... first, because I really don't believe rednecks are dumber than any other person, and second, because that's exactly what the supposedly "smart" people do. And hasn't Althouse linked enough articles on the travails of professional women trying to find some man to reproduce with? The career timing is never right, not even after finding the fellow. And then, of course, there is the *proper* concern about overpopulating the Earth.

Every now and then some "smart" person will suggest that "smart" people should view passing on their genes as a *good* thing and have more children, maybe even *three* of them.

I find it really funny because it's just not *smart* to behave in a way contrary to biological success. It's actually rather irrational. (In a sort of technical sense of the word "irrational.")

No, that's exactly right as a description, and compares with my take on it.

However, I'm quite sure the film-makers "got" that. (Knowing that the filmmaker was Mike Judge, creator of "King of the Hill".)

It was just a fun way to launch a movie with a bunch of "stupid jokes".

As a survival point, the couple's rationales are only "smart" if they're only concerned about themselves (more than leaving a future generation).

My observation re the theory—which has been argued seriously—is that you don't get a kind of cute, decaying-but-automated-so-still-running society. You get a complete breakdown which doesn't give one the luxury of being that stupid.

Nah, that's not the point, reader. These people know each other for the same time as the "dumb" people. But between their careers, the economy, and so on, they end up putting things off until it's much harder. In other words, it was a choice.

You really—well, I really felt bad for them—and, of course, it's not stupidity but education. (I know that's the message I got growing up, though not from my parents.)

But the point is, there are consequences for that. And I don't remember anyone talking about those when I was growing up.